


Vulnerability and Soft Hair

by smallenoughtofit



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: F/M, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, cuddling because I need this, kylo ren is a tired puppy, rey just wants to know what his hair feels like, soft hair
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-15
Updated: 2017-01-15
Packaged: 2018-09-17 13:22:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 893
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9326648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smallenoughtofit/pseuds/smallenoughtofit
Summary: After two years with the Resistance, Kylo Ren still lacks any real security or relationships outside of his tenuouswhatever-this-iswith Rey. And Rey still wonders what his hair feels like.





	

**Author's Note:**

> As an apology for slow updates to "Legacy", I'm posting an old one-shot that I finished ages ago.
> 
> Based on a series of headcanons I have that 1) Kylo Ren’s hair is perfectly soft 2) that Rey loves playing with Kylo Ren’s hair 3) Kylo Ren loves having his hair toyed with and 4) Kylo Ren is never every fully relaxed until he meets Rey

Rey didn’t say anything when Ren walked into her room, removed his helmet, and moved towards her. This was not unusual, after more than a year of their friendship. He hadn’t gone back to using the name Ben Solo, but he wasn’t working for the First Order. He inhabited this gray area that Rey found herself on the edge of. Well, she mostly found herself with him. Rey was the only one who never treated Kylo Ren like a dog on a leash, only let out to do what the Republic Senate didn’t want to bloody its hands with.

 

“You alright?” Rey asked, watching him enter her room and walk over to her without a word. He didn’t ask for much of an invitation anymore. If she wanted to stop him, she could with a single word or look. He flopped onto her bed, his head next to her, and muttered, “Senate hearing. I had to get re-evaluated. They’re investigating my loyalties again.”

 

“How did it go?” Rey asked, not looking up from her holopad.

 

“Fine,” Ren said, sighing. “As fine as it could, seeing as I’m still Kylo Ren.” His voice was quiet and relatively neutral, but she knew this hurt. The constant investigation, guards, and the chip in his helmet that monitored his movements, it all weighed him down.

 

Rey nodded, then set her holopad down, turning to look at him. He stared straight ahead at the ceiling, a muscle tight in his temple. She didn’t know what to do, really. This was one of those times where she had literally no context for how to comfort someone. On Jakku, trust was a very fluid thing and no one expected much for anyone else, which greased transactions in its own special way. She faced little oversight, but was trusted by both the Resistance, the Third Republic, and the military. She was the Jedi who had crossed to the Dark Side only to return, full of information on the First Order and with the prodigal son of Leia Organa in tow. She’d been welcomed as a hero, Kylo had been treated like a dog that might snap at any moment, even after the death of Snoke, even after proving himself countless times since then, as the last of the First Order was rooted out.

 

Kylo Ren shifted a little, trying to find a more comfortable way to lay than he had initially thrown himself down in. When he sat up, Rey caught his arm. He stared at her for a second, expression guarded, then let her lower him down, his head on her lap. Kylo didn’t protest at their new situation, but avoided her gaze. During her time at the First Order, Rey had discovered that Kylo Ren laid down a lot. Even now, if he was thinking through a problem or challenge, he’d sprawl out on the floor and talk through it. She found it rather sweet to hear him discussing so much out loud. Sometimes, if he was particularly challenged with an issue, he’d come and steal one of her pillows, and lay on her floor and discuss it with her.

 

Rey reached out and touched the ends of Kylo’s dark hair with the top of her finger. She’d always wondered what his hair was like, but had never had the opportunity to see if it was as soft as it looked. She felt him tense a little, his eyes flicking to her face, but reached out cautiously to touch his hair. She ran her fingers through it, resisting the urge to smirk. It was very soft. He didn’t protest, but closed his eyes instead. Rey watched his expressions as she began to toy with his hair, running her hands through it over and over. After a moment, she heard him let out a little sigh and relax against her, allowing himself to be comfortable here.

 

Rey felt the muscles in Kylo Ren’s shoulders relax fully and saw the tension leave his face for the first time in her nearly two years of knowing him. He was so uncomfortable and anxious that it manifested in his physical body. It must be so difficult to carry this weight around all the time. Rey leaned down and kissed his forehead, smoothing his hair off of his face. She felt him make a quiet sound in his throat, caught off guard by the affection. Kylo Ren’s eyes flew open and he watched her face. She hesitated, her face close to his, and he reached out and touched her nose, tracing her features with one long finger. She felt her throat tighten a little when he traced a line from her left eyebrow and down across her nose, mirroring the scar she’d left on his face. She closed her eyes at his touch, then kissed his temple before sitting all the way up. After this, they were both fully relaxed and calm here. Rey knew something had changed between them in this moment, but was little concerned with what that was. This little uninterrupted time was enough for her.

 

The pair sat in silence for a long time after that, Rey toying with Kylo Ren’s hair while reveling in his exposed and contented state and Kylo Ren allowing himself to be more trusting and vulnerable than he had ever voluntarily been in his life.


End file.
